The 10th joint meeting of the European Union (EU) and African Union (AU) Commissions started in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa this morning.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and 20 Commissioners of the EU, including EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, are in attendance of the meeting started at AU headquarters.

After the plenary, AU and EU Commissioners will meet in clusters to discuss all topics that are relevant to the partnership.

Discussions will focus on key issues such as growth, jobs, green transition, digital, peace, security and governance, and mobility and migration.

The 10th Commission-to-Commission meeting marks a record participation on the EU side, a testament of the priority relations which Africa represents for the new European Commission and its aspiration to take them to a new level.

The EU and the AU will discuss how to take forward their cooperation to address key challenges both Europe and Africa are facing such as the need to promote sustainable growth and jobs, green transition, digital transformation, peace, security and good governance, mobility and migration.

The meeting will also be an opportunity for the EU side to consult its African partners on the upcoming comprehensive Africa Strategy which President von der Leyen promised to deliver in her first 100 days in office and is due to be presented in early March.

Political dialogue between the EU and the AU takes place regularly at different levels. Commission-to-Commission and ministerial meetings take place every year, whilst EU-AU Summits at Heads of State level are held every three years.

At the 5th AU-EU Summit in 2017, African and European leaders identified economic opportunities for the youth, peace and security, mobility and migration and cooperation on governance as the strategic priorities for 2018-2020 and committed to tackle them jointly.

Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Intiative, which resulted in over 4 billion trees being planted in 2019, has been shortlisted for The Climate Coalition’s Green Heart Hero Award, which recognises the incredible work that is being done to tackle climate change.

The Awards are aimed at celebrating the unsung heroes who are helping to create a safer and cleaner future and include green businesses, schools and Members of Parliaments.

Ethiopia is nominated in the “Overseas Inspiration” category:

“Between [May and October 2019], Ethiopia planted an almost unbelievable four billion trees. Enrolling volunteers from across the country, it embarked on one of the most ambitious tree-planting programs in history, with one day in July alone ending with 350 million trees planted. As part of the Green Legacy Initiative, the scheme is an example to the rest of the world of what is possible when a nation works together to help protect the things they love.”

የኢፌዲሪ የውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትር ዴኤታ ክቡር ዶ/ር አክሊሉ ኃይለ ሚካኤል ዛሬ የካቲት 18 ቀን 2012 ዓም በኢትዮጵያ የሉግዘምበርግ ኤምባሲ ጉዳይ ፈጻሚ የሆኑትን ሚስተር ዶሚኒክ ቼቮሎተን በጽ/ቤታቸው ተቀብለው አነጋግረዋል።

ክቡር ዶ/ር አክሊሉ ኃይለ ሚካኤል በወቅቱ እንደተናገሩት ኢትዮጵያ እና ሉግዘምበርግ ረጅም ዘመናት ያስቆጠረውን ግንኙነታቸውን በትምህርት፣ በኢኮኖሚ እና በቴክኖሎጂ ሽግግር ዙሪያ ለማጠናከር የሚያስችሉ ሰፊ እድሎች እንዳለቸው ገልጸዋል። ክቡር ዶ/ር አክሊሉ በማያያዝም ኢትዮጵያ በተጠቀሱት ዘርፎች ያሉ መልካም አጋጣሚዎችን ወደ ተግባር በመለወጥ የሁለቱን አገሮች ህዝቦች ፍለጎት ለማሟላት ትሰራለችም ብለዋል።

President of the European Commission, Ms. Ursula von der Leyen, will arrive in Addis Ababa today for the 10th EU-African Union (AU) joint meeting.

She will be accompanied by 20 commissioners and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The meeting will take place on Thursday and focuses on key issues such as growth, employment, green transition, digital transition, peace, security and governance, as well as mobility and migration.

Before leaving Brussels, the President said “Europe and Africa are natural partners. We have a historical bond and we share many of today’s challenges. One of our main goals is to capitalize on the green and digital transformation of our economies to create opportunities for young people.”

The 10th meeting at a committee level marks an unprecedented EU engagement, demonstrating the priority relations Africa represents for the new European Commission and its ambition to move them to a new level.

The EU and AU will discuss how to build on their cooperation to tackle key challenges facing both Europe and Africa, such as the need to promote sustainable growth and jobs, green transition, digital transformation, peace, security and good governance, mobility and migration.

The meeting will also be an opportunity for the EU to consult with its African partners on the forthcoming Integrated Strategy for Africa, which the President, Mr von Leyen, has pledged to draft in the first 100 days of her mandate to be presented in early March.

The presentation of the document will trigger a wider consultation process leading up to the May 2020 EU-AU Ministerial Meeting in Kigali, Rwanda and the forthcoming October EU-AU Summit in Brussels, where both sides will agree on a common approach to shared priorities.

ኢትዮጵያ የታላቁ የህዳሴ ግድብን አስመልክቶ ከሱዳን እና ግብጽ ጋር በአሜሪካ ሊካሄድ የታሰበው ድርድር ላይ እንደማትገኝ አስታወቀች።

የታላቁ የህዳሴ ግድብን የተመለከተ ውይይት በኢትዮጵያ፣ ግብጽ እና ሱዳን መካከል በአሜሪካ ግምጃ ቤት ሃላፊ እና የዓለም ባንክ ፕሬዚዳንት በታዛቢነት የተገኙበት የሶስትዮሽ ድርድር በአሜሪካ ሲካሄድ መቆየቱ ይታወሳል።

Prime Minister Dr. Abiy Ahmed today (February 24) has sent a congratulatory message to the President of the Republic of South Sudan, H.E. Mr. Salva Kiir Mayardit, on the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (R-TGoNU).

Coffee export during the past seven months has generated 407 million US dollars, according to the Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority (CTA).

Dr Adugna Debela, Director General of CTA, told FBC that the country had exported 150 tonnes of coffee in seven months.

Despite a high-volume in export, the revenue is less than it was 10 years ago because of lower prices, he said.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia will host for the first time Cup of Excellence program on Thursday, he added.

በጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ዶክተር ዐቢይ አህመድ የተላከ ልዩ ልኡክ ከግብጽ ፕሬዚዳንት አብዱልፈታህ ኤል ሲሲ ጋር ተገናኘ።

As Ethiopia set out a major overhaul of its coffee production and export, specialty coffee is catching the interest of new international market destinations, Ethiopian Coffee and Tea Authority said.

Ethiopia has since been known as an agricultural country with leading export of variety coffees, but there is a new product that is getting lots of attention-specialty coffee.

Specialty Coffee is a new variety of bean exporting trends that would boost enticement for Ethiopian Coffee at the international market, mainly to enter new market destinations.

In an exclusive interview with ENA Director-General of the Authority, Adugna Debela said that the country is working to double its revenue from coffee export and eyeing new destinations through its specialty coffee production.

He said that new demands from the U.S, China, and South Korea are picking Ethiopian specialty coffee, where the country goes on a quest to build these countries as new market destinations.

Beyond the customary destinations Europe, the US, and some Middle East countries, Ethiopia is now focusing on the Chinese market for the export of its specialty coffee, he stated.

“In addition to the existing market, our market for specialty coffee is increasing in the U.S and about 60 percent of US market is very interested in specialty coffee than the other coffee verities. Japan is also our second destination for our export of specialty coffee. However, the very recent market destination to Ethiopian coffee is China. We are penetrating the market in China through our specialty coffee production,” he said.

Researchers showed that Ethiopian coffee renowned globally for its level of quality and taste, which ranges from winy to fruity and chocolaty, making the country’s coffees exceptional single delicious players in blends.

Initiatives by the government of Ethiopia have been a boost to coffee farmers to fully comply with global standards and regulations beyond encouraging farmers to produce additional high-quality beans.

Accordingly, the current coffee reform that focused on improving specialty and value added coffee production has created big capacity for the coffee sector.

“We are encouraging our farmers to produce specialty coffee. The other thing is, previously our coffee development proclamation does not have any regulation regarding value added coffee but the new reform has put an article about promoting value added coffee. So, now our work is supported by proclamation and regulation,” he said.

Ethiopia is one of Africa’s principal producers of coffee Arabica, where the country garnered over 1.2 billion USD in revenue from the exports of coffee together with oilseeds during in the last Ethiopia fiscal year.

The Director-General said Ethiopia’s coffee export shows big change, where the country managed to export about 150,000 tons of coffee only in the last seven months which was unfeasible some years before.

Moreover, by increasing specialty coffee and value added coffee export, the country has managed to achieve about 81 percent of its plan, which helps to secure 407.53 million U.SD from the planned 505.84 million USD.

ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትሩ ቅርሱን ጠብቀው ላቆዩት ትውልደ ኢትዮጵያዊያንና እንዲመለስ ትብብር ላደረገው የኔዘርላንድስ መንግስት ምስጋና አቅርበዋል፡፡

ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ዐቢይ የተረከቡትን የዘውድ ቅርስ በብሄራዊ ሙዚየም እንዲቀመጥ ለባህልና ቱሪዝም ሚኒስትሯ ዶ/ር ሂሩት ካሳው አስረክበዋል፡፡